


A View Like This

by Radhfae



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, New Dream Week 2021 (Disney), stalyan and edmund are just briefly mentioned, very light allusions to abuse/trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29516190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Radhfae/pseuds/Radhfae
Summary: A Modern Retelling of Eugene and Rapunzel's first meeting, written for the AU prompt for New Dream Appreciation Week. Eugene and Rapunzel are assigned seats next to each other on a train - mostly soft, though there's some subtle knives in there too. Ends with a different kind of spin on pretty lights than sky lanterns. :)
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	A View Like This

“Excuse me... sir? Are you okay?”

Eugene blinked, startled at the sudden address. He’d spaced out a bit, and must’ve been scowling thinking about his stupid father, and this stupid train ride in the _snow_ to get to him, because of stupid reunions or whatever, and-

“Fine.” He muttered, before he looked up from his seat to see who was addressing him- and froze. 

The emerald eyes of a woman - younger than him, but not by much, he guessed - stared back at him, brimming with concern. He cursed, internally - this wasn’t the place to let himself _slip_ like that - and straightened, abruptly, “Sorry. That was terribly rude of me, I-“

“Oh, no it’s fine!” She said, hurriedly. Her gaze darted up and down the train corridor as the man behind her coughed, impatiently. “In fact, I’m... sorry for disturbing you, actually, it’s just that... you’re sorta in my seat?” 

The words were delivered in the most apologetic way, but Eugene’s brow furrowed. “Oh? No, I’m pretty sure this is my- ah, drat.” He realized, looking over his ticket. “You’re right.” Stupid window seats. Why would he want those, all there was to look at was- 

“... You don’t want the window.” She guessed, tentatively, breaking him out of his thought spiral again. There was something... bubbling underneath her tone, now, and Eugene looked up at her again, from gathering his belongings to shift to the inner seat. 

“Not particularly. What’s there to se-“ 

“Can I have it please, then? I’d love to look outside and see all the people and lights and sheep and-“ She cut herself off, abruptly, and gave an awkward laugh, trying to compose herself. “Sorry. But. Would you mind if I took it, then?”

Something of a smile had begun to cross his face at her enthusiasm, and he found himself rising to let her in and gestured as if he’d just opened a door for her. “Be my guest.” 

This made her give a tiny giggle, as she squeezed in past him. The man behind her was practically glaring daggers at her for holding up the line at this point, and something made Eugene decide he disliked him instantly. 

He sat back down as she moved to arrange her belongings. Mostly, he just stared at his hands, and the rest of car- for some reason it felt like watching her do that would be awkward, which was weird, because awkward wasn’t a feeling Eugene Fitzherbert felt very often. 

Correction: awkward wasn’t a feeling _Flynn Rider_ felt very often, and Flynn was all that mattered to most everyone, because he was far more exciting and charming, without any of the fears and insecurities. In short, Flynn was the much better option. 

“So, Blondie-“ 

“Rapunzel.”

“Gesundheit.”

She gave him a slightly annoyed look, and Eugene raised his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “My _name_ is Rapunzel.”

“Rapunzel.” He tried it around in his mouth. “Rolls off the tongue, surprisingly.” His brow furrowed in thought, thinking back to his attempted university days. “Say, isn’t that some kind of flower?” 

“It is!” All at once, her animation was back. Eugene was just relieved he hadn’t made another misstep - for some reason, he was already beginning to care what she thought. 

_That’s dangerous, Rider._ He told himself, internally. Letting people in was dangerous. Pretty soon they’d find the cracks in your armor, and stab, _hard,_ when the moment was just right. 

~~But he wasn’t going to think about Stalyan, right now, and how she was why he was on this _stupid_ train ride to begin with. ~~

“I can’t believe you know that! Most people just think it’s... weird. Or random.” She shrugged, playing with her braid instead of looking at him 

“I don’t think it’s weird _or_ random, it’s kinda pretty.” He responded, before he could stop himself. _Dangerous_ , _Flynn,_ he thought, as her face flushed lightly because of it. “Well,” He amended, trying to recover. “It’s a little weird. But in the unique way, not the bad way.”  
  
“Pretty and unique, huh…” She gave him a small smile. “I think I’ll take it.”

“Great, because I regret to inform you I don’t offer refunds.” He quipped. Wasn’t his best work, but it made her laugh, so he counted it as a success. Not that he quite knew what he was trying to succeed _at_.  
  
“So, Mr I-Hate-Window-Seats, you have my name, it’s only fair that I learn yours.”  
  
“Now that’s just not fair-“

“You called me _Blondie._ ”

“Because you actually _have_ blonde hair!” Some of the passengers nearby turned to look over at them, so Eugene lowered his voice, though it did nothing to diminish his indignation. “I don’t _hate_ window seats.”  
  
“You seemed awfully keen to give yours up.”  
  
“Yeah, well, that’s because-“ Eugene gave a dramatic, long-suffering sigh. “I hate _snow_.”

“How could you hate snow?” The look she gave him was borderline _horrified._ “It’s so white, and pretty, and it makes everything _sparkle_ , and you can go sledding and make snowmen and snow angels and have snowball fights and then later on when you’re tired out you can go inside and wrap yourself up in cozy blankets and sit by the fire- snow is _magical._ ”

“Some of us don’t have much cause for magic, Blondie.” Eugene said, in a much more subdued tone, staring at his hands. Stalyan used to make a show of being cold, sometimes, so he’d be obligated to give her his jacket.  
~~  
In retrospect, he thought she just liked watching him shiver.~~ ~~~~

But his comment had left the conversation at an awkward pause- he had to save it, _somehow_. “It’s just cold, and wet, and it gets everywhere…”

“…did you just use your hatred for snow to make a _Star Wars reference?_ ”  
  
The small smile Eugene gave her could only best be described as _dorky._ “…maybe.”

“Oh my god.” She chuckled, rolling her eyes. “You know, you still haven’t told me what your name is.”

“Hm….” Flynn Rider or Eugene Fitzherbert. Eugene Fitzherbert or Flynn Rider. It should’ve been an easy choice. It should’ve been easy, second nature, _Hey, the name’s Flynn Rider_ , rinse and repeat.

So why did he have this overwhelming, annoying urge to tell her the truth?

“Flynn.” He said, before he could second guess himself, though if anything the answer he’d chosen just made him feel _more_ like a coward. “Call me Flynn.”  
  
“Flynn.” Rapunzel’s eyes twinkled as she said it, and somehow in that moment it sounded better than any time anyone else had ever said that name. “I like it.”

* * *

  
Eugene – no, _Flynn_ , he supposed, because of that split-second decision – had a big problem.

He was trapped.

Now, most traps weren’t really enough to hold him down for long. He’d been in and out of enough cells and vaults to know a thing or two about breaking out.

His current predicament, however, was … rather more delicate.

You see, he and Rapunzel had chatted about things for about an hour or so in fits and starts, when she’d decided to put her headphones in and journal for a bit. Flynn, being the gentlemen that he _always_ was, had pulled out a book, to give her some privacy and make it obvious that he wouldn’t be reading over her shoulder.

But somewhere in there, she’d fallen asleep. Fallen asleep, and now she was resting her head on _his_ shoulder.

It wasn’t that he _minded_ , per se- of course, personal space was important to him, and all, but this wasn’t really bothering him. That much.  
  
_This is dangerous, Flynn,_ He reminded himself, again. If he knew what was best for him, he'd wake her up right now.  
  
But he didn't. Honestly, more than any personal discomfort, he just... wasn’t sure how _she’d_ react when she woke up. But she’d whimpered in protest when he’d tried to move her off, and he didn’t have the heart (funny, really, that he still _had_ one of those) to try that again.

And he’d picked up a few things from their conversation – she was an art major, at university, who was somehow trying to cram as many additional majors and minors into her degree as humanly possible. She truly seemed to enjoy _learning_ , just for learning’s sake, and that outlook… well, it was refreshing. It wasn’t an attitude he came across often in his own circles. But this was her first big trip on her own, without _anyone_ – hence the pent-up excitement that’d released in sporadic outbursts, earlier. She was juggling a lot, and she had a lot ahead of her, so maybe it was best to let her rest.

She’d tried to turn some of his questions on him, too. Not in an intrusive way – he didn’t know how to explain it, but he didn’t think she was manipulating him. It seemed more like she was just… genuinely interested in learning more about _him_ of all people, which was bizarre.

So he’d told her a few things. How he’d recently had a bad breakup [leaving out the altar part]. How she’d retaliated by exposing his whereabouts to the father who’d abandoned him as an infant out of some misplaced desire to protect him.

You know, just the light material.

Her eyes had grown round and wide, even at that much. “Maybe you should give him a chance, though. What if he really was trying to protect you?”

Flynn’s eyes grew harder, but Eugene could only think about hungry nights and always being on the run. “If he was,” He found himself saying, in a low tone. “Then he was just as shitty at that as he is at being a father.”  
  
Rapunzel had gone quiet at that. From what he’d gleaned, her parents were a shade overprotective – _her_ father, in particular, seemed borderline stifling – but on the whole they were fairly supportive of her interests. There was something darker hiding behind that, he thought, something in her past that cast shadows over everything she said if you squinted for long enough – but she never alluded to it, and he wasn’t going to pry.

His thoughts were cut off by the train jolting, abruptly. Rapunzel gave a startled yelp, looking around frantically, before slowly coming to rest on him. She glanced at his shoulder, then back at him. “Was I-“

“Don’t mention it.” Eu – _Flynn_ said, moving to stand slowly to see if he could glean any information on why they’d stopped.

As if on cue, a voice came crackling over the intercom. “Good evening, passengers. It appears our passage forward has been blocked by a fallen tree. We’re going to do our best to resolve this as quickly as possible, but in the meantime, please sit tight. We appreciate your patience.”  
  
“Great.” He muttered, aloud. “Just great. As if the snow wasn’t enough when it was rushing _past_ us, now we’re –“

“Flynn, look!” Rapunzel said, giving a tiny gasp. She pointed out the darkened window, and at first he was confused about what she was even _seeing_ out there.

But when he carefully leaned over to peer through it, and look up at the sky, his eyes widened, too.

“Whoa…” He said, softly. _Aurora Borealis_ lit up the night sky – he remembered that from when he’d tried a few university classes, too. The ribbons of green and blue and purple light danced across the atmosphere, and for a moment it was easy to feel like this was a private show, meant just for the two of them.  
  
“Isn’t it _amazing_?” Rapunzel’s voice was filled to the _brim_ with excitement, and despite the circumstances and not knowing what’d come after this, he couldn’t help smiling. Maybe it was okay not to think about names, or plans, and just live in this, brilliant moment for once. “The _stars_ are coming out too, in the background – I could probably point out some of the constellations, too –”

“And I could tell you the stories about some of them.” He found himself responding. Maybe being stuck wouldn’t be the _worst_ thing…  
  
“I’d _love_ that, Flynn.” Something about the way that she said it so _earnestly_ twisted something in him, and he felt _compelled_ to-

“Eugene.”

“What?” Rapunzel blinked at him.

Eugene ran a hand over his hair, self-consciously. “It’s Eugene, actually. My real name.”

He braced himself for accusations, questions about why he hadn’t told her the truth to begin with… but she just smiled at him, softly. “I like it.“

“But-“ He said, baffled. “But that’s exactly what you said when I said my name was Flynn.”

“It’s not about what your name is, Eugene,” she said, turning back to the window to begin sketching a rendition of the lights still visible through the window. “It’s about liking what I know about the person behind it.”  
  
She said it so casually, as if it was a fact, and he wanted to protest. He wanted to insist that there were demons in his past she didn’t know the first thing about, wanted to tell her that she was better off attempting to befriend practically _anyone_ else. Most of all, he wanted to tell her that he was _decidedly_ not a good person.

But maybe there _was_ such a thing as magic, because something about the train car and leaning out the window to look up at the sky together, as she drew, with the prospect of sharing the stars and stories long after the northern lights died down stilled any words to that effect that he might utter.  
  
Instead, he let himself accept what she said, for the time being. He let himself smile, a little, and relax. “You know,” He said, quietly. “I could get used to a view like this.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know I was a little vague on the specifics of Eugene's backstory, but hopefully it was still coherent enough to flow well! Thanks for reading, and as always, comments are appreciated!


End file.
